Interesting article on tail docking

Nothing new there, but the poor writer seems short on vocabulary (though he's an American, so...). Perhaps we should club together and buy him a dictionary?
 
I thought it was illegal in this country now except for working dogs, however in a recent BBC programme about the Queen her corgis all have docked tails ! Not knowledgeable about this so could be wrong !
 
Penny Less said:
I thought it was illegal in this country now except for working dogs, however in a recent BBC programme about the Queen her corgis all have docked tails ! Not knowledgeable about this so could be wrong !
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Corgis are a 'working' breed they used to herd cattle. The dogs do not have to actually work, just have been bred to work.
 
Actually Pembroke corgis aren't considered as working dogs under the docking act, so it is illegal to dock them. However, many corgis are born naturally bobbed and I believe the Queen uses these lines in her breeding.
 
From the side of someone who changed their mind - my lurcher split his tail and 8 months later (and a horse resembling a scene from CSI, the vet finally agreed to amputate. The tail was fully knitted and stitches removed in a week. I insisted on docking immediately when my second lurcher split his tail - the flaming vet only took an inch off (despite me asking for it to be taken to 'weimerana length'. Unsurprisingly the tail didn't heal and he needed a further GA to do it properly. Until this point I was very anti-docking but my poor dog's discomfort changed my mind :(

The pictures in that article are just like it happened, first dog just bloodied, second dog it was stripped to the bone :(
 
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Thistle said:
…….. . The dogs do not have to actually work, just have been bred to work.
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I'm not being picky, but the vet carrying out the op is compelled to ask the question 'Is the puppy 'intended' for work', and if the owner isn't known to the vet, then the production of a current firearms authority should be asked for in the case of gundogs. If Her Majesty's corgis are docked by a vet, then there should be evidence that the parents are used for work (herding, obviously) and that's the way that authority is granted. OK, so I am being picky! :redface3:

There are those dogs which can have a frantic tail action, and there's no doubt that damage can be done and that without satisfactory healing, the effect can prove to be eventually fatal. The problem of course is that with a 3 day old puppy, it's only with the totally useless aspect of hindsight, that we can argue that a puppy should have been docked at the legal age.

We also need to consider that when docking was first carried out, it wasn't done because of any risk of likely future damage. It was done for one simple reason, 'fashion'.

In the article which you posted OP, the writer left out another (in my view) justified reason, and specifically that spaniels, those which have what we call 'style' are helped in their movement by a correct tail length which is generally set at about 3/5ths. of what would have been its undocked length. Spaniels, perhaps more so than any other breed, should have their tails docked and at the correct time and to the correct length.

Obviously, Coursing dogs need a full tail as it aids them in the twists and turns of coursing, by allowing a vital balancing aid, but it's all so often greyhounds and lurchers, the more exuberant, who will damage there tail tips, on furniture or door frames when they welcome us. I had such a bitch and the walls were constantly being washed down, and the only way that I managed to stop her was by not allowing her to be 'quite' so welcoming. It was a bit harsh, but it saved the constant blood spattered walls and furniture and her the likely and following op.

Does fashion still matter? Well I think that it may, sometimes. Dogs with gay tails look daft, in my view and a tail going over their backs throws them all out of balance. Boxers and Rotts look fine with a full tail. Dobermans don't. Dobermans need to be docked, but when the cutting takes place at the base of the tail, and when it leaves nothing, then I wonder at the ethics and it must be considered invasive and severe.

These are just my views and quite clearly, I'll be wrong! :wink3: There will never be an end to this debate! :D

Alec.
 
A genuine question; Do we think that there may be a greater degree of acceptance, dependent upon the length of tail that's removed? There's no question, in my mind that 'total' removal at the time of the op, must be considered as being of greater severity than the last half inch. Just musing, really.

Alec.
 
As MM, the corgis couldn't be legally docked anyway, the act specifies 'hunt point retrieve breeds of any type or combination of types, spaniels of any type or combination of types or terriers of any type or combination of types'. I suppose the Queen's are either natural bobtails or docked before the ban.

I changed my mind the other way to Equidae, used to be on the fence until I saw it done and am now very anti. Household of full tails here, one sturdy cocker, one sickle curve, one corkscrew.
 
I work at a vets and see the damage that can be caused, we have many many many dogs in the practice every week and we probably deal with 2 or 3 damaged full tails per year at most, such a small percentage that I really don't think it is right to chop of tails 'just i case' one day in the future the tail might get injured. I would however have the tail docked short if the dog injured it because it is such a difficult area to protect once it has an open wound.
 
Thistle said:
Alec, tried to quote but keeps crashing.

I fail to see how a shotgun cert proves that a dog works, you do not need to shoot to work a dog picking up or beating.
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My vet explained that had she not known me, she would have needed evidence of the intended end use of the puppy. She said that she wouldn't perform the op if a total stranger turned up with a litter of newborn pups and that she would demand to see evidence to support the need. That's what she said.

Alec.
 
Shotgun cert, letter from keeper on shoot stating the owner works their dogs or letter from landowner dogs are used for pest control (terrier) are sufficient evidence.

I won't have undocked spaniels, seen too many bloodied with full tails working.
 
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